Restoration of the Kitty Milroy murals is complete!

Thanks to the amazing skill of Stephen Rickerby and Lisa Shekede, wall-painting conservationists, the murals in St Mark’s Church have been stabilised and can be seen as they once were when first painted by Kitty Milroy between 1911 and 1920.

The murals were revealed on Friday to a small gathering of people, many of whom had donated to the restoration, and Nick Seversway, a picture restorer whose passion for the murals has driven forward the work, and Rev’d Lesley Crawley gave a joint talk on Kitty and on the content of the murals.

The murals themselves depict Biblical imagery, in particular the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel told Mary she would conceive and give birth to Jesus, and the Benedicite, a song which appears in some versions of the Bible and in which all parts of creation are called upon to praise God, from the heavens to the waters, the sun, moon, stars and elements, the mountains and hills, the cattle, the people, ‘all that are holy and humble in heart’.

We need to look after the murals for the future and are still fundraising to help do so, and to improve the lighting so that they can be better seen. We have set up a crowdfunding page to do so – please do support us. Click here to find out more.

On the evening when the murals were revealed there was also a presentation of a book by the Church Recorders, a group which has been recording everything in St Mark’s along with its provenance and history.

Because of Covid restrictions there are limits on the numbers who can see the murals at any one time but visits can be arranged. Please contact the administrator, Stella Wiseman, for details.